1970 VFA season

The 1970 Victorian Football Association season was the 89th season of the top division of the Australian rules football competition, and the tenth season of second division competition. The Division 1 premiership was won by the Prahran Football Club, marking the club's third Division 1 premiership; it defeated Williamstown, which qualified for the Grand Final in its first season after promotion to Division 1, on 20 September by 50 points. The Division 2 premiership was won by Coburg, in its second season since being relegated from Division 1.

1970 VFA Premiership season
Division 1
Teams10
PremiersPrahran
(3rd premiership)
Minor premiersPrahran
(3rd minor premiership)
Division 2
Teams10
PremiersCoburg
(1st D2 premiership)
Minor premiersCoburg
(1st D2 minor premiership)

Division 1

The Division 1 home-and-home season was played over 18 rounds; the top four then contested the finals under the Page–McIntyre system. The finals returned to the St Kilda Cricket Ground for the first time since 1966.

Ladder
1970 VFA Division 1 Ladder
TEAMPWLDPFPAPctPTS
1 Prahran (P) 18 15 3 0 2102 1561 134.6 60
2 Williamstown 18 13 5 0 1962 1723 113.5 52
3 Port Melbourne 18 11 7 0 1890 1531 123.5 44
4 Waverley 18 11 7 0 2045 1720 118.9 44
5 Sandringham 18 11 7 0 2083 1975 105.9 44
6 Preston 18 11 7 0 1994 1700 105.4 44
7 Dandenong 18 10 8 0 1936 1630 118.7 40
8 Oakleigh 18 4 14 0 1656 2128 77.8 16
9 Geelong West 18 3 15 0 1581 2337 67.6 12
10 Yarraville 18 1 17 0 1585 2324 68.2 4
Key: P = Played, W = Won, L = Lost, D = Drawn, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, Pct = Percentage; (P) = Premiers, PTS = Premiership points Source[1]

Finals
Semi Finals
Sunday, 30 August Port Melbourne 10.15 (75) def. by Waverley 15.16 (106) St Kilda Cricket Ground [2]
Sunday, 6 September Prahran 10.15 (75) def. Williamstown 9.15 (69) St Kilda Cricket Ground [3]
Preliminary Final
Sunday, 13 September Williamstown 22.22 (154) def. Waverley 7.9 (51) St Kilda Cricket Ground [4]
1970 VFA Division 1 Grand Final
Sunday, 20 September Prahran def. Williamstown St Kilda Cricket Ground (crowd: 26,000) [5]
3.5 (23)
9.7 (61)
16.15 (111)
 17.18 (120)		 Q1
Q2
Q3
 Final		 3.1 (19)
5.4 (34)
5.5 (35)
 10.10 (70)		 Umpires: Anderson
Bartlett 4, Knox 4, Dowsing 3, Marinko 2, Emselle, Karanicolas, Kenneally, Parker Goals Hayward 2, Jackman 2, Hayward 2, Papley, Patterson, Smith, Stark
Culpin (ribs) Injuries

Awards
  • The leading goalkicker for the third consecutive season was Jim Miller (Dandenong), who kicked 80 goals in the home-and-away season and did not participate in finals.[1]
  • The J. J. Liston Trophy was won by Fred Cook (Yarraville). Cook, who later became the Association's all-time leading goalkicker, won the award as Yarraville's first choice ruckman and compared with the rest of his career kicked relatively few goals during the year; he polled 41 votes and won the award by a wide margin of 14 votes, despite Yarraville winning only one game for the season. Kevin Jackman (Williamstown) was second with 27 votes, and Derek King (Oakleigh) finished third with 22 votes.[6]
  • Port Melbourne won the seconds premiership. Port Melbourne 16.18 (114) defeated Preston 14.9 (93) in the Grand Final,[4] played as a stand-alone match on Saturday 12 September at Toorak Park.[3]

Division 2

The Division 2 home-and-home season was played over eighteen rounds; the top four then contested the finals under the Page–McIntyre system; all finals were played on Sundays at Toorak Park.

Ladder
1970 VFA Division 2 Ladder
TEAMPWLDPFPAPctPTS
1 Coburg (P) 18 16 2 0 2472 1379 179.1 64
2 Sunshine 18 15 3 0 2228 1496 148.8 60
3 Box Hill 18 12 5 1 1859 1669 111.3 50
4 Brunswick 18 10 8 0 1781 1714 103.9 40
5 Caulfield 18 9 9 0 1892 1915 95.1 36
6 Frankston 18 8 10 0 1715 1987 86.3 32
7 Mordialloc 18 7 10 1 1449 1798 80.5 30
8 Northcote 18 7 11 0 1621 1853 87.4 28
9 Werribee 18 3 15 0 1524 2022 75.3 12
10 Camberwell 18 2 16 0 1284 2010 63.8 8
Key: P = Played, W = Won, L = Lost, D = Drawn, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, Pct = Percentage; (P) = Premiers, PTS = Premiership points Source[7]

Finals
Semi Finals
Sunday, 16 August Box Hill 20.15 (135) def. Brunswick 16.7 (103) Toorak Park [8]
Sunday, 23 August Coburg 25.12 (162) def. Sunshine 14.12 (96) Toorak Park [9]
Preliminary Final
Sunday, 30 August Sunshine 12.12 (84) def. by Box Hill 16.7 (103) Toorak Park [10]
1970 VFA Division 2 Grand Final
Sunday, 6 September Coburg def. Box Hill Toorak Park (crowd: 8,000) [11]
5.4 (34)
11.13 (79)
16.15 (111)
 20.17 (137)		 Q1
Q2
Q3
 Final		 4.2 (26)
8.6 (54)
12.10 (82)
 16.11 (107)		 Umpires: Anderson
Sporton 5, Hepper 4, McCarthy 3, Morrison 3, Kirkman 2, Gale, Marsh, Sullivan Goals Barnett 6, Dawson 3, Abbott 2, Baker 2, Smith 2, Crisp

Awards
  • The leading goalkicker for Division 2 was George Allen (Sunshine), who kicked 73 goals in the home-and-away season,[7] and 80 goals overall.[10]
  • The J. J. Field Medal was won by Greg Smith (Mordialloc), who polled 39 votes. Smith finished ahead of Bob Kirkman (Coburg), who was second with 33 votes.[12]
  • Northcote won the Seconds premiership. Northcote 15.19 (109) defeated Sunshine 13.14 (92) in the Grand Final, held as a stand-alone match on Saturday 29 August at Skinner Reserve.[10]

Notable events
  • On 16 March, the Association was formally expelled from the Australian National Football Council as punishment for its refusal to establish a clearance reciprocity agreement with the Victorian Football League during the previous season. The expulsion passed by a vote of 6–3, and brought an end to the Association's twenty-year affiliation with the national body. As a consequence of the expulsion, the League was now free under ANFC rules to field Association players without a permit; likewise the Association could field League players without a permit, but it had already been doing so against ANFC rules.[13]
  • Prior to the season, the Broadmeadows Football Club submitted an application to join the Association; but the application was rejected because Association was not interested in expanding beyond twenty teams.[14]
  • On 26 April, Prahran defeated Preston to end Preston's 18-match winning streak.[15]
  • The final round in Division 1 saw one of the closest finishes to the home-and-away in Association history, with five teams – Sandringham, Port Melbourne, Dandenong, Waverley and Preston – battling in the final round for the last two positions in the final four. In the final round:[1]
    • Sandringham, which could have claimed third place with a victory, suffered a heavy loss against Williamstown, trailing by 57 points at quarter time before losing by 41 points
    • Port Melbourne defeated Dandenong by 13 points to claim third place from Sandringham on percentage, and leave Dandenong out of the finals by four premiership points
    • Waverley defeated Oakleigh by 93 points to claim fourth place from Sandringham on percentage
    • Preston defeated Geelong West by 32 points, falling 0.5%pts short of passing Sandringham on percentage for fifth place; the percentage gap to Waverley for fourth place was in any case insurmountable, so Waverley's win eliminated Preston from finals contention.
  • Williamstown reached the Division 1 Grand Final in its first season after promotion from Division 2. It was the best performance by a team in its first season after promotion in the history of Division 2.[16]
  • List of VFA/VFL Premiers

References
  1. Murray Hubbard (24 August 1970). "Fiery Port in the four". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 58.
  2. Murray Hubbard (31 August 1970). "Waverley strongly". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 54.
  3. Murray Hubbard (7 September 1970). "Prahran wins by 6 points". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 52.
  4. Murray Hubbard (14 September 1970). "Easy, but not dull". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 56.
  5. Murray Hubbard (21 September 1970). "'Town flops badly". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 52.
  6. "Cook takes VFA award". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. 27 August 1970. p. 62.
  7. "Scores in the VFA". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. 10 August 1970. p. 46.
  8. Murray Hubbard (17 August 1970). "Sandy turns on 'power'". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 46.
  9. Murray Hubbard (24 August 1970). "Coburg's claim". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 58.
  10. Murray Hubbard (31 August 1970). "Box Hill is not troubled". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 54.
  11. Murray Hubbard (7 September 1970). "Flag to Coburg". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 52.
  12. "VFA best". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. 13 August 1970. p. 58.
  13. Scot Palmer (17 March 1970). "Permits: VFA is expelled". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 62.
  14. Murray Hubbard (10 April 1970). "New look in VFA teams". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 45.
  15. Murray Hubbard (27 April 1970). "Prahran in upset win". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 57.
  16. Fiddian, Marc (2004), The VFA: a history of the Victorian Football Association, 1877–1995, p. 40
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